Having regard to the view that the Court has taken of the character of the Maratha grant in
favour of the Portuguese, the situation during the Maratha period need not detain the Court
further in its consideration of Portugal's claim of a right of passage to and from the enclaves.
During the Maratha period sovereignty over the villages comprised in the grant, as well as over
the intervening territory between coastal Daman and the villages, vested in the Marathas. There
could, therefore, be no question of any enclave or of any right of passage for the purpose of
exercising sovereignty over enclaves. The fact that the Portuguese had access to the villages for
the purpose of collecting revenue and in pursuit of that purpose exercised such authority as had
been delegated to them by the Marathas cannot, in the view of the Court, be equated to a right of
passage for the exercise of sovereignty.